Pakistan temporarily reopens crossing point to Taliban-captured Afghan area

Pakistan temporarily reopened a major border post with Afghanistan on Saturday, which had been closed since the Taliban recently seized the Afghan side, a Pakistani border guard official said.

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Thousands of Afghans were stranded at the Pakistani border post of Chaman, since the insurgents took control on Wednesday of the town of Spin Boldak and the border post nearby, in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

"

”the Pakistani official told AFP, who requested anonymity.

The passage will be authorized until the evening, he continued without excluding the possibility that the border will be open again on Sunday.

White flag

Hoisted on Wednesday, the Taliban's white flag was still visible on Saturday on the Afghan side, an AFP photographer noted from the Chaman border post. The reopening was decided on "

" of the border post, but the crossing remains closed to trade, said Muhammad Tayyab, a local leader of a paramilitary force.

According to the AFP photographer, the crowd rushed to the passage as soon as the doors were opened.

Muhammad Khan, 50, Afghan agricultural worker in Quetta, Pakistani capital of Balochistan province (southwest), about 100 km from Chaman, told AFP that he wanted to return home for Eid .

"

", he declared.

Qudratullah, 30, from Kandahar province, returns after taking his father to a hospital in Karachi three months ago, about 800 km away.

Read also: Afghanistan: ceasefire between local officials and the Taliban in a western province

On the Afghan side, a trader Haji Nasir confirmed to AFP that trucks were not allowed to cross the border. Afghan forces on Friday launched an operation to try to retake the town of Spin Boldak, located on the road linking the border to Kandahar, capital of the province and a large city in southern Afghanistan. According to residents, who reported a lull in the fighting, Spin Boldak was still in Taliban hands on Saturday. Dozens of wounded Taliban fighters, via the border post of Chaman, in a Pakistani hospital for treatment, noted an AFP correspondent on Friday.

The Taliban have seized vast rural areas of Afghanistan and key border posts with Iran, Tukmenistan and Tajikistan since May in an all-out offensive against Afghan forces, launched in parallel with the start of the war. withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.